The Rebirth Of Konoha
by WillKillz72923
Summary: After Pein's attack leaves Konoha a barren shell of nothingness...life emerged...a hero rose to the occasion...again...and life was forced to carry on. NaruSaku with other pairings too.


_**This story is my own opinion of the aftermath & beyond of Pein's destruction of Konoha, and Naruto's near-ultimate sacrifice to kill him once and for all. I will try to convey as much details as I can into this story, for I have very good ideas for it anyways.  
Read & review, cuz this story will definitely be multi-chaptered; I also influence anonymous readers to review too.**_

**Chapter 1: Introduction to Destruction**

Beautiful, clear skies cover a massive crater of debris, rubble from every building that was either part of the shockwave, torn through from fighting, or completely disentigrated. It was all due to the God's incredible technique that made Limelight look like a joke.

It was only when a blonde shinobi sporting an orange & black jumpsuit with orange pants arrived, did the death & destruction of Konohagakure no Sato, and its citizens, stop abruptly.

His normally beautiful cerulean eyes were now yellow, his eyes in slits with red around the top of each eye, and sporting a red & black Hokage cape that went down to the top of his shins.

"You finally show up, eh? Good, You made my search much easier." Pein proclaimed to the blonde shinobi as both intently stared each other down.

"So YOU'RE Pein...I suggest you leave Baa-chan out of this, cuz now...YOU FIGHT ME!" Naruto exclaimed, using inflection to emphasize certain words as he continued the staring contest.

Pein quickly looked over to where Tsunade...was? He looked in Naruto's direction again, only to see her standing in front of him in a defensive stance. "I am Hokage, and because of what you've done...I WILL KILL YOU, PEIN!!!", Tsunade screamed at the end to get her point across to Pein. She knew she used all of her chakra to help heal everyone that was injured, but she didn't care.

She was going to protect Naruto until her last breath, and that was that. Naruto stood there behind her slightly dumbfounded, but it all changed as Pein attacked with blinding speed.

When he was mere centimeters from killing off the Legendary Sannin...something crashed into him from above with cataclysmic force, killing off only the second body of the crazed God instantly.

Sakura, Tsunade, and anyone who happened to look up saw Naruto standing, arms crossed, and glaring down the now-dismembered body of one of Pein bodies. "Well...how many of you do I gotta kill off now?", Naruto asked as if he was halfway between really angry, and really bored.

At hearing that, Sakura & Tsunade both went completely wide-eyed with pure shock & awe at what happened. "No way...he just took him out with one hit...Naruto...", Sakura said as she was now caught between healing the left leg of an injured Shikamaru...and staring at her teammate in awe.

"Sakura, please...heal...I-I need to aid my team...please...Chouji and Ino need me...", Shikamaru said as he was trying to sit up to no avail. His fractured leg could be healed extensively thanks to Sakura, but he had to be very careful on it afterwards.

"OH...sorry Shika...you saw that right?", Sakura asked, trying to get back to the task at hand. "Of course, it's not that incredible when Naruto's the one pullin' it off...ACK!", Shikamaru winced in pain as he felt the bone straighten out. Sakura was just about finished when Shikamaru intervened abruptly, "You've fallen for him...haven't you Sakura..."

Sakura looked back, looking both surprised and flushed, "I-I...I don't know what you're talking about, of course I don't!". Shikamaru simply nodded knowingly. He knew she knew, but she needed to realize before...

They suddenly saw six more of Pein's bodies converge in on Naruto, who just stood there...and smirked devilishly as they all crashed into him with deadly force.

"NARUTO", was all Sakura was able to yelp before impact. A gigantic cloud of dirt soon engulfed the small area surrounded with house debris, as the ground started shaking slightly.

Everyone stared intently at the large dust cloud, trying to see what's become of their trusted comrade...

"G...Ge-Get...O-O-OF-FFFA ME!!!", screamed a vicious voice that spilled pure annoyance and hatred. As the six Peins started slowly crushing him, he heard something through the smoke.

"NARUTOOOOO!!!", Sakura screamed as loud as she could, about to run over to help him, but Shikamaru grabbed her arm tightly, forcing her back. "Sakura, SAKURA! You IDIOT, WE NEED YOU HERE! HE'LL BE FINE, USE YOUR STRENGTH TO HEAL US!!!", Shika screamed, trying hard to restrain the worried konoichi as she seemed hellbent on helping Naruto as best she could.

Naruto heard her worried scream, _"Sakura-chan...", _"You-Y-You...GET THE FUCK OFFA MEEEEEE!!!!!!", he screamed, so loud he thought his lungs were gonna collapse.

Suddenly, as he groaned in agony from the Peins on him...his arms bulged out, his knees slowly started straightening, and he summoned every ounce of chakra into his arms and legs. As it all unfolded, the smoke cleared for everyone to see.

Naruto's jacket was disintegrated, showing absolute perfection from his arms, to his six-pack abdomen. Sakura got a look as soon as the smoke cleared to just...stare...with a major blush showing to boot. _"Holy shit, get a look at THAT!",_ her mind screamed as she was too busy staring to notice what exactly he did.

As he was concentrating chakra, the Peins were actually colliding with the radiation of their chakra, bouncing off of Naruto's emerald-green tinted chakra. Naruto, at the time, was in Sage Mode, causing him to also radiate his natural aura color, which is yellow.

The radiation mixed with the chakra he put out, while Pein's bodies' negative reaction caused somewhat of a back-lash shield. Naruto, not knowing, used his remaining strength to push the shield outward. This caused the bodies to not only deflect, but near-disintegrate upon the exerted pressure.

The back-lash from this technique disintegrated Naruto's jacket, also burning his skin. The pressure he exerted off of his feet caused the ground to nearly give way, resulting in a backlash that burned and tore half of Naruto's pants, while badly burning everything from the knees down on both feet.

Naruto stood victorious, but it was short-lived. "...", was it...dead silence before...

Sakura stopped staring to look at Naruto's face...what she saw caused tears to cascade down her face like a waterfall...

Naruto's eyes...were lifeless, dilated, and the color in his still wide-open eyes died down from yellow...to cerulean...to light blue...to grey.

His entire upper body had hundreds of deep cuts, while his body took on a light red tint from the burns.

His legs were bloody, badly cut, and the skin on his legs was a very dark red (Think of his four-tailed Kyuubi form).

As he collapsed, there was dead silence...until...

"No, no, no NARUTO!", Sakura screamed as tears were flowing down full force. Shikamaru was so shocked by the aftermath of the revelation, that he froze, arms limp at his side in utter horror at the sight of one of his closest comrades.

Sakura ran as fast as she could to his side, repeating his name through raspy, choked sobs while mustering as much chakra as she could to heal him.

"Don't...d-die on...me...you baka...p-please Naruto...DON'T LEAVE ME!", she choked as she focused more chakra, trying desperately to heal whatever she could.

* * *

Inside Naruto's mindscape:

**"Kit how the FUCK did you do that?! That power...was...I-I'm speechless..."** "_I surprised myself, fox...don't ask me about it, cuz I'm clueless about it myself" _**"As usual, I suppose, eh kit?"** _"Fuck you fox, I'm not stupid...just a little dense in the skull, that's all" _**"Pft, you may have a point...still...how did you harness that power, kit?" **_"What the hell?! I thought I told you I don't know! Ask me something else...plEASE!" _**"OK, OK...you DO know that pink fairy's like...all over you now, right?" **_"...W-WHAT?!?!" _**"Yeah, she's helping me fix you and your stupid ass, while sporting some annoying water-works" **_"You mean Sakura-chan...right?" _**"Of course, baka! Who ELSE do I call pink fairy? Wanna tell me...SMART ONE?" **_"Fine, fine I get it. Sorry for questioning the ALMIGHTY KYUUBI NO YOKO, king of demons...and WHO exactly is the dormant one trapped in this seal on my stomach...SMART ONE?"_ **"SHUT UP YOU PUNY FUCKING MORTAL!!! ROT IN HELL, TEME!!!..."** _"At least I acknowledged your power before reminding you of your place, give me some credit for THAT at least...besides, I'm sure Orochimaru will shit himself when he sees you again...I'm sure you remember that DEAL we made while I was training with Jiraiya-sama, right?" _**"Of course...I couldn't have been more grateful to you when you promised me THAT!" **_"I know it was a hard time for you, having to deal with your mates' deaths at HIS hands...you should've gotten a better reading on his location before trying to wipe Konoha off the map th-" _**"If he killed that pink fairy...wouldn't you use all your power to devastate, destroy, and ravish the teme as much as you could?" **_"Those are mates, fox...Sakura's different...so different from just a mate...at least to me...she's the one who keeps my hopes up, drives me to get better, and she's the only one I'll ever love, period" _**"If she could hear those words from you...only Kami-sama knows how you're waking up without your virginity intact" **_"Oh, REALLY funny, if I still HAD my virginity intact!" _**"...I almost forgot about that girl in Rock...sorry, kit...you still holding that against me, eh?" **_"OF COURSE!!! How could you do that, fox? I was so winded from learning all those different jutsu, then you just DECIDE to take over when I least expect it, and then you had the balls to accept the voucher from Jiraiya-sama for a free sex session WHILE copying my voice to ensure YOURSELF some pleasure! HOW COULD I NOT HOLD IT AGAINST YOU...YOU HEARTLESS MONSTER!!!"_** "FIRST OFF BRAT, I HAVE A HEART YOU LITTLE FUCKER! SECOND OFF, I DIDN'T HAVE NEARLY AS MUCH RESPECT FOR YOU AS I DO NOW! THIRD OFF, EVERYONE MAKES A MISTAKE THAT AFFECTS SOMEONE ELSE'S FUTURE, ESPECIALLY DEMONS!! FINALLY, I WOULD'VE KILLED YOU ALREADY IF I HAD NO HEART...I would've tortured you into letting me control your body, resulting in utter destruction of that village regardless of Orochi-teme being there"**_ "Oh...right..." _**"KIT, DON'T EVER SAY I DON'T HAVE A HEART, CUZ EVEN YOU KNOW THAT ISN'T TRUE!" **_"I'm...I'm..." _**"I'm WH-" **"sorry...I said...that to you, fox..." **"That's better, kit...now how bout you let me out for som-" **_"TEME!!! FUCK Y-" _**"I'm KIDDING, KIT! It's a miracle you thought straight enough to know what I was saying before I finished...hehehe, anyways...kit, you should wake up now. We've been talking for maybe, 15 minutes was it?...Your body should be done healing by now...after all...it's been two weeks outside of here since that...that attack..." **_"Oh right, forgot about that mindscape time whatever-the-fuck-it's-called-thingy... oh well...Fox, how much pain am I gonna have to endure when I get conscious control over my body again?" _**"A ton, best thing to do is...brace yourself, cuz your body has so many cuts, broken bones, the list goes on and on..." **_"UGH, I FUCKIN HATE HOSPI-...oh yeah, the hospital's disintegrated from that Pein weakling's attack...like the rest of Konoha" _**"Yeah, that too...I'm not very sure how many people were killed in the explosion, but it's somewhere in the hundreds, thanks to that Baa-chan lady's slugs...it could've been in the hundreds of thousands though..." **_"Baa-chan...BAA-CHAN, FOX IS SHE OK?! PLEASE TELL M-" _**"She's gone, kit".**

* * *

Naruto's eyes shot open suddenly, partially breaking his connection. He woke, screaming "BAA-CHAN!!!", frightening Sakura, who was kneeling by the large piece of debris he was lying on.

"NARUTO! Are you okay?!", Sakura yelled, slightly relieved but horrified at what he screamed as he woke up. "Sakura-chan...? How long was I out exactly?", Naruto asked, slightly surprised that no makeshift was able to be set up if Kyuubi was right about the time he was out.

"Two weeks...Naruto...how did you know Lady Tsu-", Sakura was interrupted by Naruto, "Kyuubi sees everything when I'm in the mindscape, almost like I have two pairs of eyes...how are you holding up, Sakura-chan? You look ti-". Naruto was abruptly interrupted when Sakura's head was suddenly on his chest with both arms wrapped gently around his still-severely injured body. She was crying tears of joy, but she was also mourning...not just Tsunade though, had perished in the attack.

"Naruto...Tsunade-sama wasn't the lone casualty...Kakashi-sensei...Tsunade-sama...Chouza & Chouji...Genma...I-Iruka-sensei...Master Ebisu...THEY'RE DEAD!!!, Sakura screamed into his chest, as she tightened her grip, tears streaming from her face hard.

Naruto just sat there, holding Sakura tightly as tears soon came to his eyes as he stared, seemingly at nothing. He just couldn't fathom all of them gone just like that! It just wasn't possible to have that many of his loved ones gone...it had to be a lie!

Naruto simply said, "Sensei...how could Kakashi DIE?", Naruto yelled at the end as more tears came down. "My friends, family, mentors...killed from something I disposed of so EASILY!!! If I was earlier...KAMI-SAMA WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!", Naruto silently sobbed, using inflection at the end even though what he said was very raspy.

"Naruto...p-please...don't blame your...self...for what happened...to them...they died...protecting all of us!", Sakura yelled, lifting her head to face him.

"No...it is...if I-I w-w-was...alerted sooner...none of this...would've happened...I c-cou-", Naruto was again abruptly interrupted by Sakura placing a finger on his lips, silencing him instantly.

"No it isn't, Naruto! How could you know you would've saved them? You KNOW they protected this village with their lives! Their deaths aren't in vain, cuz of that simple service! They saved Konoha, and you capped it all off...why do you ALWAYS blame yourself for what happens to people?!", yelled Sakura, trying to get the point across to him. However, her argument was met with full force.

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?! THEY WERE ALL SO SPECIAL TO ME...MY FAMILY, FRIENDS, EVEN MY MENTORS...YOU'RE THE ONLY TRUE FRIEND I HAVE LEFT NOW!!! I lost bonds that I've held onto as my lifelines, and the people that always BELIEVED in me, HELPED me, TAUGHT me life lessons...Iruka-sensei was like the father I never had, Kaka-sensei was OUR sensei through thick and thin, Tsunade-dono was a mother-figure to us, Master Ebisu the closet pervert; he had to put up with Konohamaru & I, and he never complained about us! He did his sworn duty as a sensei to teach us everything he could...then there's...Jiraiya-sama...".

Naruto was winded from screaming that...and he was immediately regretting it as Sakura...just stared at him with wide eyes, still tear-stricken.

"Naruto...", Sakura said, finally recovering from the recent sob-fest. "...wait...Sakura-chan...", Naruto finally saying something after an awkward near-minute of staring into each others' eyes. "What happened to Konohamaru?", Naruto asked, now worried about his young comrade.

"Oh Konohamaru? You'll be surprised at what he did to the first Pein!", exclaimed Sakura, now trying to put the deaths aside for now.

"Tricked him with Kage Bunshin, then hit him with a surprise Rasengan, right?", Naruto asked half-heartedly, as if he already knew exactly what the youngster accomplished. Sakura looked at him again, a little dumbfounded at how he knew, but finished, "Yeah, I'm not even gonna ask you now...you're acting too smart to be the Na-", Sakura was interrupted by Naruto, "I may be dense as a boulder, but never question me about what Konohamaru does...the kid's gonna be my successor, so I hang out with him, teaching him everything I know...NOT just perverted shit...that's our greeting to each other, and always will be...whether you pound me to Hokage Mountain and back, or not".

Sakura however, had something unexpected to say...at least to him, "After you're done healing...I'm not sure if I'll ever hit you for that stuff again".

"...uh...who am I talking to?", Naruto asked, cuz now it was his turn to be dumbfounded, but soon cringed when Sakura clenched her right fist.

"Your teammate, who just happened to have lightened up on you...SHANNARO!", was all Naruto heard before he got punched hard in the noggin by an embarrassed Sakura. To her chagrin, however...his head didn't budge an inch from her punch.

"Hehe, Sakura-chan...you ARE lightening up...or am I just too used to that to feel it? I really don't know anymore", Naruto said, a little amused at the seemingly light punch from his teammate.

"How di...Hmph, meany", said Sakura in a now playful manner. Naruto took quick notice, and answered, "AWW, SAKURA-CHANNN! Why'd ya have to say that to me...I'm so hurt now!".

"You of all people? So good at being sarcastic?", Sakura pulled out a kunai and held it to Naruto's throat...but he still continued to laugh heartily as though he knew she was just getting started.

"Who the fuck are you and what have you done to Naruto-kun, teme?", spoke Sakura as sinisterely calm as she could. She spat it with so much venom in her tone, that Naruto stopped laughing abruptly, nearly shitting his pants in the process.

"Teme...ans...answer...me...bef-before I...I...", was all Sakura could hold in as she burst into a fit of laughter with Naruto just looking at her...completely dumbfounded at the quite awkward position they were in that Sakura hadn't quite noticed yet.

When Sakura put the kunai to Naruto's throat, she jumped on top of him, straddling his waist ever-so slowly while pressing the kunai to his jugular vein. However, what got Naruto freaked out the most...was that she was laughing so hard...WHILE in that straddling position, her body's vibrations from the laugh-fest were pulsing very fast to his waist, resulting in an uncontrollable bulge in his pants which was just...centimeters from her.

His worst nightmare soon was reality as she sat on him for a little support to recover...when she felt it there, OH did she feel it there.

It was Sakura's turn to sport a dumbfounded look as she stayed there, seemingly trying to comprehend what just happened...when, "AHHHHH!!! WHAT THE FUCK NARUTO?!?!?!?!", she screamed at her highest pitch, which threatened to blow Naruto's eardrums sky high.

She cocked her fist back, circulating as much chakra as she could into her right fist, while poor Naruto cringed, struggling through his injuries to shrink to the fetal position. "S-S-SAKURA-CHAN, I'M BEGGING YOU! PLEASE?! I CAN'T HELP IT!!! THAT'S A NATURAL REACTION WHEN YOUR BODY'S GRINDING UP AGAINST MY GROIN!!! PLEASE DON'T, I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK ME TO, I PROMISE!!!", screamed Naruto, as his impending demise was upon him. He silently prayed it would be over quickly, as the impact...didn't come?

Naruto peeked one of his eyes through his fingers to see what was taking her so long. Sakura simply said, "Anything, Naruto-KUN?", while Naruto was very surprised that she used a "kun" suffix after his name, but knew instantly what that meant. His mind was sulking in misery, as he had to answer that one-way question.

"Yes, Sakura-chan...ANYTHING you want", he said, sounding more daringly devilish than he felt safe with. Sakura giggled at this, but frowned at his perverted sarcasm to the prior statement. What she still didn't realize, however...she never got off of him...same exact position they were in before.

Poor little Naruto, for he felt about as frightened as a 3-year-old being forced to watch "The Hills Have Eyes 2" all night long. He couldn't get any coherrent words out...it was all just mumbled s-s-s-stuttering.

"Fine then, Naruto-KUN! I'll just get a little closer here...", she said, as she made herself comfortable on top of him, then she leaned in closer to him and whispered, "Open your mouth, go on and say something to me you little pussy". Naruto's eyes went wide as dinner plates, not only being insulted, but being inches from Sakura's flawless face. He had to answer her...to redeem his pride...or lack OF pride.

"Who-", Naruto was suddenly interrupted...but his mind started racing a mile a millisecond soon after the sensation hit him.

Sakura caught him by the lips, hard. Simply mashing her lips into his, using her tongue instantly to slip past Naruto's pearly-white defenses and attack his mouth with full force.

Poor little Naruto still didn't know how to react to this, as he was trying desperately to calm himself down before he threw all inhibitions to the street to do something he would regret.

He just couldn't muster the strength to simply...react to this. He just sat there, letting her destroy his mouth with pleasures he had never felt before.

Even the girl from the Rock Village that fucked the living daylights out of him without him himself knowing didn't use her tongue. No, she used plenty of that on another anatomy of his.

After another two minutes, Sakura slowly pulled away, with a small frown on her face. "My wish was you to return it, baka.", Sakura said, starting to think he didn't want it. She started regretting what she did completely, when Naruto finally answered.

"How-How the hell d-did you...WHY the hell w-would you do that, Sakura?!", he answered, showing his seriousness by dropping the 'chan' reference to get his point across. "I'm so sorry, Naruto...but that was the only suitable reward I could think of for everything you've done for me & this village", Sakura said, losing confidence in her voice.

"First you cry helplessly in my arms as we're mourning our friends' deaths, THEN we share a crazily awkward moment of embarrassment, THEN you scare the living FUCK outta me with your threat, THEN you're busting out laughing, WHILE straddling me, FINALLY you destroy every inhibition I set up for myself, starting with my mouth...WHY?!", screamed Naruto, practically spitting venom from every emphasized word. However, as he was saying this, the bulge in his pants was hurting him, and he sported just about the reddest blush anyone could've imagined.

Sakura was at a loss for words. She felt as though she made her best friend scared of her, and it made her feel like such a slut it sickened her deeply. She slowly tried to get off of him, when she ran over the bump.

She gasped, feeling a weiird sensation coming over her as she struggled to get off of him without hurting him anymore than she already did. "Naruto...you wanna control yourself down there, so I can give you some space?", she said, sounding more remorseful, than annoyed.

"WHAT?!", Naruto looked down slightly, to simply pale at the embarrassing position he just happened to be in. Before she could answer though, he shifted his body to the right, forcefully. She felt the bump rub her leg hard, as he was soon quickly at his side.

She gasped loudly at the rough contact, and was soon in the clear to get off of him, which she did rather quickly. Naruto however, didn't turn back upright, just laid there still as a board.

_"Yeah...he's pissed at me now. Stupid, stupid, stupid, why did I have to do that to the poor guy? Even I can see now why he didn't move at all during that..." _, Sakura said mentally as she slowly walked away from his make-shift bed to get some fresh air herself.

She just needed to calm down, and come up with a way to seriously apologize to him, without an oral assault as a bonus. God, did she feel like a slut for that course of action. She needed to drown out that nagging thought before she felt any more guilty.

She walked, seemingly unconsciously until she tripped on another piece of debris, causing her to fall over. She grunted slightly, not in the mood to be embarrassed, but quickly got up, looking around to survey her surroundings.

She wasn't even sure how many minutes she walked, but it couldn't have been long, for she was only about 600 feet from Naruto's bed. She was sure fatigue was setting in just about now, because her vision was greatly blurring, and her limbs were screaming at her to rest.

She soon found a small shaded spot to let her body rest for a bit. Besides, it was the next-best thing to resting by Naruto's bedside, so she could know what he's doing at a moment's notice. She let her body slide down to the dirt, and she closed her eyes...

* * *

Inside Sakura's Mindscape:

_"Jeez, I wonder if Naruto's doing ok now...maybe I sho-" **"Don't wake up yet, bitch. You and I are gonna talk before then"** "WHA-Who do you think you're callin bitch, you little horny cu-" **"HEY! Don't say it...besides, you're making yourself sound naughtier every time you attempt to pelt me with insults, considering I AM you"** "UGH...What do you want? Is it about what I did?" **"How could it NOT be?! When you rubbed against him...ah, so good..."** "Shut up, I feel like a slut for that already!" **"AND?! Get back there, and show your appreciation again...I was about to...MMMmmm...you don't want to know what I want to do to him right now...should I...EXPLAIN?"** "Stop!!! You really have a slutty mind, don't you? You're really scaring me now! Just STOP!!!"** "AWW, WHY? YOU'LL LIKE IT!"** "How? How could I POSSIBLY want to hear your sick fantasies...with Naruto?!"** "Open up already, you liked that kiss, even if you caught ME off-guard on that!"** "He didn't even return it...he just stayed there and let me" **"So what? What if he actually returned it?"** "By now, we'd be done and very exhausted...WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SAY?!"** "HA! Knew it, you want more too...much more, considering what you bumped into afterwards..."** "UGH, SHUT UP ALREADY! When I slip up, you jump down my throat all the time-" **"How much COULD go down your thr-"** "Shut up...PLEASE?! Stop being so perverted already!" **"How can I not? You're so uptight, and I let it all go, s-"** "Then I'm kinda surprised you don't look older, and have saggy ti-"** "NOW THAT'S MEAN!!!"** "The aftermath of one of your fantasies, or my comment?" **"Ok...you're lucky I can't take control of you, or you'd have to pick up the leftovers of your virginity off of his cock after I'm done...which wouldn't be for another 2 hours...so, you could watch and...enjoy"** "Finally, you say something that could've hurt my feelings...too bad I knew what you were gonna say"** "HOW?!"** "I'm you, afterall..." **"Bitch...you know you can come up with better fantasies anyway..."** "I DO have you in my mind, so I guess we could brainstorm on some id-" **"Forget that idea! I'll just give you advice on it all, THEN you fuck his brains out...have some self-control though, I actually want to ENJOY the real thing for a good hour!"** "...oh we were talking about Naruto?" **"WHAT?!?!?!?!?! OF FUCKIN COURSE!!!!!! WHO ELSE WOU-NO! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THE TRAITOR-TEME, YOU HEARTLESS LITTL-"** "Told you I didn't like...heartless? Me, heartless? I do have a heart, and it's for Sas-" **"NO! YOU ARE HEARTLESS! YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE, YOU LITTLE FUCK! How could you say you still love the traitor, after what he did to us...AND Naruto-kun?!"** "What are you talking about? You've always known my heart belongs to Sas-" **"Naruto"** "Would you stop it already? Sasuke is the man of my dreams, and my heart will only be for him. Got it?" _**_"As a matter-of-fact, sure. I can just break the connection between us, making you basically lose the ability to multi-task, thus meaning you will suck at chakra control. You can go throw your life for someone who not only doesn't care about us, but he sold us out to seek power at the hands of Orochi-teme. Just remember this, bitch...is he really the man of your dreams, or is he only what you WANT to believe he is? Think long, and hard about it...then talk to me."_****_

* * *

_**

Sakura finally awoke from her encounter with her inner-self, _"Geez, what kinda question is that? Think long & hard about it...am I sure she wasn't just using a perverted pun to catch me off-guard? What did she mean by that though? Man of my dreams...or what I WANT him to be? Why is this so damn confusing?!", _and was still trying to fathom what was said in there.

She didn't even care about the fact that the talk was mostly about her other's sick thoughts about Naruto & her...no, she was far too occupied trying to think of the last rant she heard from inner-Sakura before snapping back into reality.

"Might as well rest my mind, and go check on Naruto.", she sighed slowly as she got up to stretch. Afterwards, she started walking back to the area. She was also still pondering that statement, though trying to rid it from her mind for the moment. It only took her about a minute & a half to get to the debris bed...but Naruto wasn't in it.

"Naruto...NaruTO!", she yelled at the end to try to coax him out, but to no avail. Just as she was about to yell his name again, a massive chakra surge got her senses about fifty feet from the area.

The surge scared her, as she never felt that much emitted chakra as a simple locator. She headed north, climbing over the bed, and other chunks of buildings to get to the signal.

She couldn't sense who, because of the quickness of the surge, but could sense that it wasn't hostile. She simply breathed a sigh of relief as she looked over the top to see Naruto laying down with his head elevated...just staring at the beautiful sunset dead ahead of them.

"What do you think we're gonna do from here, Sakura-chan?", asked Naruto as he was twirling a broken kunai around his middle finger. Sakura, slightly taken aback by the sudden question, just moved to kneel down next to him silently.

"Well?", asked Naruto softly. Sakura saw the last thing he would show, tears with a priceless gaze into the sunset as he continued to twirl the broken kunai. "I...I'm s-", Sakura was interrupted by Naruto saying "Don't worry about it, it's not like you truly cared anyway...still, what are our plans now?". Sakura heard what he said...and felt broken on the inside, as if he took that kunai and buried it through her heart.

"I-I...", she couldn't answer, couldn't really move at all, just stared into the sunlight...trying to avoid eye contact with her blonde teammate. for fear of breaking down.

She was, yet again, on the verge of tears as she continued to stare unto the horizon. Sakura just felt so weak, it sickened her. In one moment, she went from relief to dread & regret, from just seven words Naruto said. While she continued to stare on, he just turned his head to stare at her, to simply observe, and listen to what she could choke out.

"W-Why would you say that I...don't CARE for you? How could you say that, Naruto? Everything we've been through means nothing to you?", asked a watery-eyed, heart-stricken Sakura as her voice started sounding raspier as she went along.

"It's not that I didn't care, it's that YOU didn't care...eyes always on Sasuke, praising him for everything he rarely did...the fact that you couldn't even, not even ONCE say 'Thank You' from our first meeting, to this day of reckoning...after everything I've done for you, the times I've put my own life at risk to make you happy, my sworn promise to bring your BELOVED Sasuke home to you. Even I know when someone has been conflicted to the point of no return...that's Sasuke now, not then...THEN, he was our comrade, MY brother, YOUR crush...our FRIEND. He threw all of us to the dirt, like we meant nothing to him, just to get power from a man Kyuubi & I have promised to one day kill...Orochimaru. NOW? Everything's turned to rubble, countless people have died, OUR precious ones, all gone.", he said as his voice slowly filled with anger, and shame.

"The unsung heroes of Konoha are the innocent villagers that died, trying to get their families to safety. Everything I've done for this village...always goes in vain.", as he finished, his eyes were tearing up. He couldn't take it anymore, and just let it all out.

"No one will ever understand what I've went through to get where I am now. It's a good thing YOU'LL never know, because unlike you...people have acknowledged me for the work I've done...not as some dobe, baka, or teme...but as a genuine HERO! All I've ever wanted from you...was true respect...to be thanked through WORDS...never, not ONCE did that ever happen. If I got that alone, I would've left you alone, so my once-BROTHER could have you. I-I loved you, everything about you...the girl of my dreams...ended up stomping all over my dreams...using me to get what you want...", as Naruto finished, tears were streaming down his face, as silent sobs could barely be heard.

Sakura, on the other hand...was speechless, horrified, filled with self-disgust, and she too was silently sobbing. She couldn't answer him, she didn't even think she was worthy of knowing him, let alone be hearing him vent every root to his internal fight. She had absolutely no idea that he loved her, to the point where he put her ahead of his own life. It killed her to know that a simple 'Thank You' would've made her teammate's life so much more valuable to him.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore; every word he said not only made perfect sense, but struck a chord deep within her soul that threatened to break her. She simply said through her very raspy "Naruto...oh Kami-sama...WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!".

She hid her head in her arms, bringing her knees up to her chest...and just cried...cried hard. All the while, she repeated 'no' over and over as she continued to bawl her tear ducts to near-overdrive.

Naruto looked at her, and soon felt bad for what he did...really bad. He completely totaled her emotions, as he struck chord after chord...until his main objective was complete.

He brought on a second-view epiphony, a sort of realization through someone else's words. Naruto made Sakura realize how much her life mattered to him, and called upon what she did to him as the ultimate realization of her actions.

"And yet......I still love you", Naruto said softly.

**_Don't worry, I'm gonna get a new chapter up, but it's not gonna be for a little while. I have mid-terms, HSPAs, you name it, I've got  
it for HW. This entire story, apparently fluctuates, flirts, even plays around with the back & forth type of relationship I've been setting up for a while. It was actually very hard to picture all of this until I got completely into it around the Naruto-Kyuubi mindscape conversation. It all took off from there, and my result? Well, that's your opinion._**


End file.
